The problem of finding white space for the placement of graphics and text has long been acknowledged in the Computer Aided Design (CAD) industry. This is clearly evident when creating dense cartographic maps consisting of lines, curves, symbols and text. The method for locating white space provides capabilities for use by end-user applications to determine the quality of space available for adding graphics and text into a drawing view or onto a drawing plane.
This method is applicable to any 3D and 2D computer based application that creates 2D drawing representations. The technology augments, and adds significant value to, solutions that cover generic CAD graphics and a broad range of applications including, but not limited to, structural engineering, civil engineering, transportation engineering, electrical engineering, plant design, architecture, facility management, mapping, utility management, emergency dispatch management and air traffic control displays.
This method can also solve the difficult problem associated with scale changes on computer generated cartographic maps where annotation text must be adjusted manually after each change of scale. A further area of application is annotation of 2-D drawings that are extracted from 3-D CAD models where text and dimensioning typically needs to be adjusted manually to eliminate overwrites. Moreover, as drawings are often extracted multiple times as a result of model revisions, this manual process must be repeated to maintain consistency and drawing quality. Essentially, any diagramming application is able to benefit from this invention.
As part of a comprehensive structural engineering software application, the inventors have successfully applied the method to automatically generate high quality computer-based drawings for steel fabrication layouts and details.